Stories by Jay Walljasper
Jay Walljasper is editor of OnTheCommons.org, a news and culture website devoted to recognizing the importance of the commons -- those things that belong to all of us -- in modern life.
Posted on Oct 28, 2011, Source: Shareable
In these antagonistic political times, bikers and walkers are now targets of controversy for some members of Congress.
Posted on Sep 29, 2011, Source: AlterNet
Despite its cold weather and spread-out development patterns, here's how a Midwestern city beat Portland, San Francisco and Boulder for the title of #1 Bike City.
Posted on Jul 6, 2011, Source: Shareable
Here's how we can get more Americans to bike.
Posted on May 27, 2011, Source: Shareable
Why the author of "Bomb the Suburbs" has had a change of heart.
Posted on May 25, 2011, Source: People for Bikes
The price tag for more than 3,000 federally funded bike and pedestrian projects last year amounted to less than half the cost of one highly contested highway project.
Posted on May 16, 2011, Source: Shareable
Is it enlightened politicians? Their urban growth plan? Or something else entirely?
Posted on Jan 3, 2011, Source: On the Commons
There's a misconception that all significant environmental progress begins in wealthy nations.
Posted on Dec 20, 2010, Source: AlterNet
The good life means more than private property -- all of us have a stake in what we share together.
Posted on Dec 1, 2010, Source: YES! Magazine
Portland may be the only large city to earn the League of American Bicyclists' coveted platinum status as a bicycle-friendly city, but they have even bigger plans.
Posted on Sep 21, 2010, Source: AlterNet
A trip to the Netherlands offers insight into how American cities should transform our transportation culture and infrastructure to be bike-friendly.
Posted on May 29, 2010, Source: OnTheCommons.org
Drawing on indigenous Indian knowledge of geology, hydrology and ecology, Rajendra Singh helped to save a watershed.
Posted on Feb 20, 2009, Source: OnTheCommons.org
Privatization is steadily undermining the things we all depend upon -- libraries, transit, parks, water systems, schools and public safety.
Posted on Nov 26, 2008, Source: OnTheCommons.org
Mark Ritchie -- the man in the middle of Minnesota's Senate race recount -- is passionate about making sure every vote counts.
Posted on Oct 6, 2008, Source: AlterNet
In the midst of a financial meltdown, a German brewery that's defying expectations raises questions about the role of government in the economy.
Posted on Aug 20, 2008, Source: OnTheCommons.org
A gathering of international thinkers, artists, and activists is inspiring a new revolution in the right to water and what belongs to the commons.
Posted on Aug 19, 2008, Source: OnTheCommons.org
As a recent example in Texas proves, what passes for "independence" these days is more like lazy and foolish.
Posted on Mar 19, 2008, Source: Ode
Millions of deaths in developing countries can be prevented by access to basic health care. Some medical professionals are doing something about it.
Posted on Jul 24, 2007, Source: Ode
A growing number of businesses are discovering that getting big is not the best measure of accomplishment. Which are the ones setting the trend?
Posted on Mar 8, 2007, Source: Ode
A new movement called "beyond organic" aims to save land and communities. Is it the next ecological and social revolution or just another marketing tactic?
Posted on Oct 17, 2006, Source: Ode
Burning jet fuel creates a large -- and growing -- share of greenhouse gases. But there may still be ways to see the world without harming it.
Posted on Aug 26, 2006, Source: Ode
The European Court of Human Rights shows how justice can cross borders. It could be a model for the whole planet.
Posted on Aug 21, 2006, Source: Ode
High-powered technology can manipulate reality and disseminate falsehoods on a scale never before seen.
Posted on Mar 11, 2006, Source: Ode
Our greatest shortcoming in finding a solution to social problems may be the notion that there is only one.
Posted on Feb 18, 2006, Source: Ode
From Copehagen to Bellevue, a movement has emerged to reclaim public spaces.
Posted on Jan 21, 2006, Source: Ode
Biologist Rupert Sheldrake's theories turn everything we know about the universe inside out.
Posted on Dec 29, 2005, Source: Ode
As millions of Asian citizens jubilantly embrace driving, some experts predict an enviro nightmare.
Posted on Dec 23, 2005, Source: Ode
Has the power of TV and movies played a role in turning Americans away from cities and public spaces?
Posted on Mar 4, 2005, Source: Ode
When it comes to schools, stores, buildings, neighborhoods, civic groups and even countries, small is not only beautiful, but more efficient and satisfying.
Posted on Mar 3, 2005, Source: Ode
Is changing the world still hip? Two books that set out to chronicle the cutting edge of American culture give social change short shrift.
Posted on Apr 30, 2004, Source: Utne
Even at a time when politicians in Washington are allocating billions for another round of mega-highway construction and pop culture celebrates the sexy supremacy of Hummer drivers, there is an emerging movement to reclaim our right to take a walk.
Posted on May 23, 2002, Source: Utne
Wealthy, educated urbanites who would never permit themselves to poke fun at welfare mothers or immigrants freely make cracks about spongy white bread and Miracle Whip.
Posted on Sep 20, 2001, Source: Utne
It seems important for us to remember that responding to terrorism with bloodshed on an even larger scale will only make us less safe.
Posted on Oct 19, 2000, Source: Utne
Noam Chomsky as Secretary of State? Ralph Nader as Attorney General? Ann Landers as Postmaster General? The editor of the Utne reader puts together a most unconventional list of candidates for the next presidential Cabinet and other key Washington posts.
Posted on Apr 26, 2000, Source: deleted
Are you nervous that fierce economic competition may force your employer to slash jobs or relocate overseas? Have you watched small shops and businesses in your neighborhood go broke as commerce flows toward mammoth superstores on the edge of town? Is it your perception that no matter how hard you try you always wind up feeling poorer, fatter, drabber, less sexy, less happy, and less fully alive than the people portrayed in advertisements?
If so, you are like many of the six billion people who feel a mounting sense of pessimism about our prospects for changing the course of modern civilization. But there's hope, at least according to more than 1500 environmentalists, organizers, academics, economists, and activists from five continents who gathered in November at a conference at Columbia University in New York City. These problems are not inevitable nor unassailable, they said. We can succeed in challenging and overturning these social and economic trends, especially if we understand them all as part of the same problem: the widespread effects of economic globalization.
